THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070490
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
After six public hearings and lots of research, a state panel on Wednesday released a draft of a plan to raise education standards by emphasizing the basics - reading, writing and problem solving - and a little more.
``This is historic. Make no mistake about it. Our children's future is at stake,'' Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. told the state Board of Education before presenting the North Carolina Education Standards and Accountability Commission's report.
Last year, the legislature authorized a Hunt request to create a 25-member commission charged with determining what a high school graduate should know in order to get a good job or go on to college.
Hunt wants the commission to come up with higher standards and a better way to evaluate students throughout their school years. By the end of the decade, he wants high school seniors to be required to pass a new competency test before they can graduate.
He also wants to offer a guarantee. If a business isn't satisfied with the skills of a North Carolina graduate, Hunt wants the state to retrain the worker at state expense.
On Wednesday, the commission offered the state Board of Education - another panel appointed by Hunt - a look at its work so far.
The report included several sweeping goals and standards. There are few specifics.
It says North Carolina students should master the following ``major competencies'' before being granted a diploma: communication, the use of numbers, solving problems, processing information, ``teamworking'' and using technology.
Then is says that in order to achieve those standards, students must have a command of 10 essential skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening, ``viewing,'' using numbers, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving and working as a member of a team.
It doesn't say what changes would be made.
One commission member, assistant state superintendent for research Suzanne Triplett, acknowledged there's nothing new about emphasizing the basics. But she said the new approach goes further because it updates the basics by adding important skills such as listening and speaking.
``It takes a long time to do something totally different,'' she said.
Hunt emphasized that the draft report is only the first step in the process. Now he wants North Carolinians - particularly parents, teachers and employers - to voice their opinions about the report.
The Board of Education is expected to consider the final recommendations next year.
KEYWORDS: EDUCATION COMMISSION COMPETENCY TESTING by CNB